(first posted 11/14/2012. And it’s still there, but given how Portland is booming and this neighborhood getting gentrified, I have doubts about for how much longer) If I never shoot another curbside car, I have enough photos in my files to keep me busy for a few years. And should Eugene suddenly dry up as a source of fresh curbside meat, Portland is just up the road. Just a block from son Edward’s house is perhaps as fine and dense a collection of Volvo 240s and such as any in the world. Alamo Volvo (why not Amazon Volvo?), located at 6901 NE Glisan, has a rep for keeping old Volvos running, but it looks like the proprietors might be falling behind. That’s not surprising, considering they’re a couple of self proclaimed “hippies” who can’t be bothered to answer their phone.

Let’s take a look at what’s waiting either to be restored to street-worthiness or stripped for parts. Here’s an early 164, with the fine straight six.

That fine 245 will be back on the street shortly, no doubt. It never fails to amaze me how many clean old bricks are still around.

Heresy! There’s a FWD Volvo wanna-be hiding among the genuine articles. Who let you in here? Out!

Yes, there’s a shop back there somewhere.

Obviously, those back here have signed their organ donor cards.

And here are the two active shop bays. Mitch and Dennis get nothing but rave reviews on the web for how conscientious and honest they are in helping Volvo drivers keep their bricks going forever. There’ll be seats for them at Valhalla.

What would really get me excited would be an ’81-’85 240 Turbo, black with tan interior. I haven’t seen a 240 Turbo in years. A fire engine red ’88 740 Turbo sedan like the one Dad had would be great too!

Man, there’s nothing like this where I live. Its a shame really. Maybe the salt kills too many curbside classics, or this region is wealthy enough where they don’t want to be seen in an older vehicle, but either way, I wish my current place of residence had more things like an old Volvo shop.

I will file these guys alongside Citroen guru Lonseth on the list of places to fix cars I want.
BTW that 164 is actually a mid period car, flush door handles and vent wings would be a 72 with a strip speedo or 73 with the later cluster. 69-71 164s would have loop door handles with the funny pivoting pushbutton, while 74-75s would not have vent wings.

Hey, that looks just like the Volvo garage in Guelph (THE place to be for hippies in Southern Ontario) which paradoxically has more old Volvos in one place than I’ll see on the street in a year.
I think there’s some sort of molecular attraction that gathers old Volvos together. Corvairs and VW beetles have a similar molecule..

I was just going to say something to that effect. Old Volvos seem to flock together. That lot on Gordon St. in Guelph (it’s called Hamilton’s, I think) is something else. There’s a similar deal up in Benmiller, just east of Goderich.

Wow! My hometown of Guelph in comparison to the holy grail of Eugene! Hamiltons Corner Garage has been known for years as the Volvo Graveyard. As the south end of the city has been laid victim to urban sprawl, the garage has been forced to gentrify – somewhat. A link to some pictures is http://www.calgaryvolvoclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1728 I have also posted a primer.

I hope my sister’s ’75 Volvo 144 (her first car) ended up in a place like this after her husband’s nephew got his use out of it. For all I know, it may still be around, but if not, at least some of its parts hopefully went to a good home.

A 1975 would actually be a 244, not 144 (in the US at least). Actually sort of a hybrid with 244 bodywork and strut front suspension, but the old B20 pushrod motor. In ’76 the OHC (heresy!) motor was released. Of course, regardless of the cam location, real Volvos have SU carbs and 2 foot long shift levers.

Just a matter of practicality. RWD Volvos have a bad habit of remaining immobile in Salt Lake winters. Subarus tend to move regardless of the weather.

My wife’s Forester isn’t exactly a corner carver, but my 2012 Impreza is a lot of fun to drive. Very flat cornering with precise steering.

With as much snow as the Quad Cities get, and with the hilly terrain that you have to negotiate, I would have thought that you would have moved on to more capable cars long ago.

Tom Klockau

Posted November 15, 2012 at 4:41 PM

I keep forgetting you’re in SLC; are you only in Utah part of the year? I imagine you really do need the AWD there. When I had my ’91 940SE a dozen years ago, I had Gislaved snow tires on all four corners, and that sucker would go through anything. When I cheaped out and only put snows on the back when they wore out, it was a different story. Had to put several sandbags in the trunk, and it looked like it was under full sail!

Kevin Martin

Posted November 15, 2012 at 7:16 PM

Tom,
Most of the year I’m in Dulles/Reston, VA. But in a month from now I return, for good, to SLC.

Don’t take my Volvo (or Brougham) comments personally. I can’t stand either one-Volvos or Padded Vinyl Roofs, but I respect your enthusiasm for all things automotive. That’s what makes CC such a great site.

I went up to Portland a few weeks ago to buy my daughter a 1989 Volvo wagon. She was hit on her bike while riding home from her job in Eugene and I thought I’d better get her something safer than a bike. I paid $3600 for it, but a lot of the expensive potential repairs had been done. It drives like a tank. Now I kinda want one for myself!

Friend of mine bought a FWD Volvo a V40 I think I told her it should be a good car, but its been the biggest pile of crap shes ever had the gravel road she lives on has beaten it to death in less than a year and its been replaced by a Toyota Fielder, so while the old Volvos might be great durable cars some of the later ones sure aint, thats it with the tailgate raised next to the Caldina.

There is a very small body shop in my area that is a lot like this Volvo repair shop. The guy has been in the same little hole in the wall shop since at least the early ’90’s if not longer. He painted my motorcycle parts in 1998 and took a huge dent out of the gas tank, all for around $300.00. And does beautiful work. My late Dad somehow found him and told me about him, he had been using him for the increasing amount of fender benders he was involved in, and fixed Mom’s car once as well.

I think the last time I used him was around 2005. He painted the U pull hood and fender I found for my ’86 Jetta when I had a little accident. ABS equipped cars stop faster on wet highways! Recently neighbor backed into family members Mazda 6. I got estimates from a low of $1900.00 to as high as over $4000.00.

He fixed it beautifully for $600.00. The sad part is 3 weeks after the repair the car was totaled. My neighbor who backed into the car was happy the repair was so cheap, and is planning to use him to repair his truck’s body damage as well.

As has always been the case, phone calls were not answered. Voice mail was full. Went by the shop, closed that day so I left a note. Never got a call, stopped by again and found him working. Dropped off the car, had to stop by a couple of times to check on progress. It sat for a week without being touched as he was busy. Finally a week later I got a call, the car was done. The nicest guy, as long as you have a little extra time and have a patient and friendly attitude, it’s worth the extra effort and time for the money saved and the quality work.

Too bad shops such as this are a endangered species. Wish I knew about this shop when I was maintaining a family members ’89 240.

I ran a Volvo 240 parts business in the late 90s-early 2000s that looked a lot like this, but I never took on repair customers. I would buy rusty heaps for $100-$150 and part them out on Volvo forums and eBay. Every now and again, I’d take one in that was too nice to part and fix it up with my stash of parts, selling it on for around $750.

It was a decent business for a while. I made $10-15k/year for a while. Then the price of scrap went up and the prices for parts went down, so it was no longer economically viable.

Perhaps a 850 between so many RWD Volvos is heresy, but after my experiences with my father´s 940 (bought new ) and my used 850, the 940 drives like a ´70s car, while the 850 could pass as a more or less modern car. The 940 chassis was crap, and I suppose the same happened with the 240/245.

I need to find a hole-in-the-wall place like that to catch up on some of the much-needed work I keep not getting to on the 780. We do have a very well-regarded Volvo shop here in Richmond with an excellent reputation, but their prices reflect that excellent reputation!

Love the 164–hope that one has some life left in it. Doesn’t look very rusty, but the moss/lichen is concerning!